The most important current issue for Australia and potentially the most critical global concern the nation faces heading into 2021 is the “terrifying aggressiveness of the Chinese government,” says Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“We are seeing China exert itself in an unprecedented way where it has taken direct economic retaliation, throughout this year, and is now trying to exert maximum economic pain on Australian businesses in order to bend our will and subvert our sovereignty,” Ms Markson said.

Diplomatic tensions have been escalating between Australia and China, culminating in the recent occurrence of a Chinese official posting a doctored image to Twitter of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of a child.

Ms Markson said the retaliation coming from China is “in return for Australia trying to protect ourselves from Beijing’s foreign interference and espionage”.

“It’s in return for our call for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 – supported globally.

“And in return for our very values – the freedom of speech enjoyed by our think tanks and media,” Ms Markson said.